British authority has sustained a new injury at the Cape
of Good Hope ; and, if appearances are to be trusted, the revolt of the Anglo-Dutch emigrants at Natal, which seemed settled, is not so. Some of their race have seized on a new site just beyond the fron- tier, and have defied British rule ; and the emigrants at Natal have shown a disposition to abet them. A Puisne Judge, who was holding a court at a frontier-town, hearing of the proceeding, left the bench, rushed across the border, and took possession in the name of the British Government ! The Governor-General has dis- avowed that act of extrajudicial activity, has declared the relations of the colony and the Aboriginal tribes to remain in state quo, has promised them protection, and has warned the Dutch that they cannot shake off their allegiance : he expressly retains authority over the Dutch in virtue of that constitutional principle, and not on the score of territorial authority ; thus recognizing a sort of foreign character in the territory of the Natives. Now the consequences of that relation, under every possible change of bearing towards the Natives, from the most arbitrary to the most conciliatory, have been, that the border - settlers are open to a practice of brigand-invasion, which the chiefs have neither the authority nor the police force to prevent ; that the Aborigines are open to retaliation and oppression by the settlers ; and that peace, law, and order, are constantly and fla- grantly violated. if the colony is worth keeping, it is worth keep- ing in order. The only alternative solution of the difficulty, besides abandonment of the colony, under existing arrangements, is the usual one in countries that we have colonized—the extermi- nation of the Natives. Is that tardy, clumsy, and fatal process, to solve the question of border anarchy at the Cape ? Truly, it must be so, if Government will not interpose. The thing wanted is an entire revision of our relations with the Aboriginal tribes of the Colonial empire, with a view to the institution of some controlling power for which existing laws do not provide. The laws which are framed to keep order among Englishmen do not apply to the case of the savage tribes subject to the British Crown ; so that, in regard to them, it may almost be said that there is no law. A new system is imperatively demanded, for the sake of peace, of our Colonies' wellbeing, and of mercy to our Aboriginal fellow-sub- jects.
Previous page
